Khalas, AUC.

My semester just officially ended with my last exam. I am so incredibly relieved that it is over. And although everyone is talking about their plans for going home, I've got my own plan for the coming two month break. Not that I don't want to go home - it just didn't work out that way.

So - my plan:

Reading. I just borrowed 10 books from the library. yes, 10. There will be a lot of reading going on. And writing, insha'Allah.
Sleeping. So much sleeping will occur you won't even believe it.
Finding a new apartment with fast internet and a comfy bed for said sleeping.
Traveling. Paris and London for sure, and hopefully somewhere else, too. Maybe Israel/Palestine or Lebanon or Jordan or Syria or Siwa or something.
Showing my Mom what living in Cairo is like.
Fixing things that have been broken.
Getting more involved with AIESEC again.
Working on my Arabic.
Seeing touristy things that I still haven't seen since moving here in June.
Celebrate Christmas and New Year's Cairene style. With a touch of Americana.
Get ready to restart AUC in February.

And on another note - I was looking at my dashboard and basically the only thing on it are sticky-notes, the weather, and countdowns.
The weather is just a constant reminder that I live in the desert, but it's not too different from Atlanta weather honestly. It's about 60 degrees here pretty consistently, but it will keep dropping more.
The sticky-notes are mostly reminders - things I need to do, music I'm interested in, magazines and editorials that I want to look at getting subscriptions to in the states, and things like that.
But it's the countdowns that got me really. Here they are:

20 days until London and Paris
1 month until Mommy comes to Cairo
3 months until Audie comes to Cairo

All exciting upcoming events in my life. But why I mention them at all are the next two:

5 months and 11 days until home
6 months and 19 days since you've lived in the sandbox.

I have lived in Cairo for more than 6 months. And I am well past my halfway point. And there are less than 6 left. There are times when I walk down the street and can't remember what it's like to see stoplights. Or street signs in English. I don't know what it is going to be like not to listen to the call to prayer or smell limes and ta'amayia and shisha smoke when I walk home. Or when I was reading a website in Arabic and I didn't even notice it. Life in Cairo has become so natural that I don't even think about it, and that is both weird and kind of amazing too. It's just hard to make sense of it all sometimes.

live from Ma-Crazy Street.

1. I got home from Turkey, and was kind of relieved to be home. I loved Istanbul though, and want to go back sometime soon.
2. I hate drama. The end.
3. Working on my paper. Attempting to work on my paper. Something to do with paper.
4. I'd rather be working on my portfolio, but I don't really want to do that either.
5. AUC round 2 is almost done. Round 3 is creeping closer and closer.
6. My mommy is coming to Egypt. I'm worried that she will be terrified.
7. Realized walking through Zamalek that I won't be Christmas shopping this year - no pushy people in the malls, no cinnamon scented stores, no peppermint mochas, no cheesy Christmas music - I won't get any of that. And it made me a little sad. And I hate Christmas shopping. But I still realized I'm going to miss it. All of it.
8. I have a lot of pictures to be uploading. But I am not allowing myself to until after exams finish. You should be proud of that self-control.
9. I have gots no business socks.
10. 27 days until I head to London and Paris.
11. Lists might be the easiest way to procrastinate. And express my inability to form coherent sentences at the moment.

methods of Procrastination.

1. Never underestimate the power of celebrity obsession driven news.
2. Pretend to be a nerd. Or a monkey with some darts.
3. Facebook Lurk.
4. Decide that now, more than any time in the past six months, is better than any to finally upload some photos.
5. Laugh out loud.
6. Pick other classes with less pressing deadlines to do work.
7. Read-a-book read-a-book read a GD book.
8. Plan Thanksgiving dinner.
9. Decide, instead of forcing yourself to sit and work, that you can do research at the beach instead with some sweet new friends.
10. Research future career options that may or may not be dependent on you getting a good grade on this work you continue to put off.
11. Sleep.
12. Update your blog. Then obsessively check if other people have updated theirs.
13. Wash, rinse repeat. Go back to number 1.

sup-dates.

1. ACTIVATE = major success. such AIESEC love. more later when I've got the time.
2. my whole body is sore, most probably because of the AIESEC dancing and complete lack of sleep. standard post-conference exhaustion.
3. the Russell Brand show is no more. there will be a hole in my heart.
4. I miss people at home - for serious. wa7eshtenikoo awy awy awy.
5. Working on a video for @GT. Yes, there will be @love.
6. It's November already. yeeeeeesh.

Current Obsessions.

1. that new Katy Perry song.
2. Attempting to upload my pictures on the Facebook and Flikr. (failing, miserably)
3. These little gems.
4. Figuring out what happens when I get home in 7 months (stressycows.)
5. Love Lockdown and wishing I were as cool as Kanye West.
6. missing people, like tons.
7. the Existential Crisis of my Cairene life.
8. Finding a way to write and read more.
9. the Elections.
10. figuring out where to travel for Eid al-Adha, Thanksgiving, and Winter Break.
11. Moneys, and how horrible they make my life.
12. Convincing people to come and visit me.
13. Figuring out how I can meet Russell Brand.

random Updates on my life, a list.

1. classes started. chaos ensued. unsure of current direction of life.

2. chose somewhat odd classes this year. International human rights law, comparative politics, Arabic, Contemporary Political Islam, and creative writing. unsure of current direction of life.

3. odd feeling of emptiness, probably just hunger. unsure of current direction of life.

4. waiting for something, but not sure what, to start. unsure of current direction of life.

first Egyptian days...

three days in Cairo. my findings:

1) awesome ladies. from AIESEC and from AUC/ALI. fantabulous.
2) haven't met very men of the AUC boys yet (segregated dorms and all that), but they look like promising cohorts.
3) Stella, the local brew, is not too shabby (much better than India's Kingfisher, for sure).
4) I apparently am a hookah "champ". I blame AIESEC and the gentlemen of the modern American hookah.
5) I love AIESEC. and all that comes with it. Especially the people.
6) Tamiyah = delicious. whoa jeez.
7) An incredible whirling dervish performance can simultaneously make you dizzy and lifted. more on that later.
8) I miss everyone at home. Just so you know.
9) I am so ready for school to start. Cairene life requires Arabic, and I have never wanted it more.
10) Internets work best after 1am. Anytime else it is slow as anything.
11) Cairo = breathtaking. Yellah.

things that make my life better at the moment

1. Preston's interpretation of Quentin Tarantino, specifically the use of the word "boss".
2. A new apartment.
3. the Music in my head.
4. Cooking for Ben James.
5. Hobohookahs.
6. Impending holidays.
7. Infinite possibility.
8. Dinners with Molly.
9. Daily crosswords.

at the bottom of everything

to do list: october 29, 2007.


1. look for an apartment, get over the simultaneous success and failure.
2. attempt to get over silly little girl crushes (failing miserably).
3. begin research on my 15 page paper discussing the correlation of Arab nationalism and soccer.
4. find an adventure.
5. get ready for the awesomeness that will be Smashing Pumpkins at the Fox tomorrow.
6. establish boundaries. then take a wrecking ball to them.
7. figure out how to tell a story. with 50,000 words. by the end of november. yeesh.
8. try to really impact my job, and not get fired in the process.
9. finish my CIA application, attempt not to sell my soul.
10. start the revolution.
11. read a book about internal revolutions.
12. find a way to go back to India. god, I miss it.
13. end all infatuations. right now.
14. take one for the team.
15. clean my room.
16. find the perfect pair of jeans.
17. learn how to cook the perfect tagine.
18. attempt to no longer be retarded.
19. quit being jealous. for real.
20. follow through on to do lists.
21. create impact.
22. publish a poem.
23. create art.
24. learn how to walk into a room and turn heads.
25. care about what people think.
26. quit caring about what people think.
27. watch a movie that changes my mind.
28. challenge people's perceptions.
29. dance.

hokay-so.

it's been about a week since the last posting, and here is what's been going down.

1 - drinking. too much of it.
2 - several trips to blue ice. which influenced number 1.
3 - bought a gorgeous sari. just waiting on the tailor to finish it.
4 - traveled with my boss around rural Punjab. met over 35 family members. was stuffed full of food. even when i said no more - they kept feeding me.
5 - started Youth Week. volunteering in Khajeri Village, a small slum within a colony. it is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
6 - every student (all 300 of them) at Khajeri Government High School now knows my name. and yell for me every time they see me.
7 - starred (with my roommate/co-worker Femke from the Netherlands) in a Punjabi music video. we were the random white girls dancing in the video - the ones we always make fun of. so, club dancing. in front of (and encouraged) by my boss. awkward turtle times 10. we'll see when the video comes out.
8 - not enough sleeping. so tired.
9 - trying to get everything together so i can go home in one piece. easier said than done.
10 - simultaneously excited and sad to be heading home. in only five days.
11 - smoked shisha with awesome kids from around the world at mocha.
12 - ready for a day off.
13 - not ready to leave.
14 - trying to find presents for everyone. with hardly any money left.
15 - tik-he tik-he, five minutes. no problem.

so five days - and i will be heading stateside. america - you better be ready.

lists - a john cusack must.

things to do:

1. get over my silly boy crushes.
2. do my homework. and i mean, really do it.
3. finalize india.
4. find the perfect pair of flip-flops.
5. get a haircut.
6. read the Qu'ran.
7. read the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
8. buy music.
9. wash my car.
10. get money.
11. do laundry.
12. write a paper.
13. find a direction.
14. take one for the team.
15. quit drinking so much.
16. write.
17. do art.
18. be happy.
19. get a pedicure.
20. follow through.
21. wake up.
22. speak spanish.
23. quit lying.
24. make my bed.
25. snuggle.
26. quit nomadlife stalking people.
27. quit my email addiction.